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Natural Resources at Mesa Verde National Park

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Fall colors along the Mancos River.

NPS / SCPN

Mesa Verde National Park encompasses 51,982 acres (21,000 ha) in southwestern Colorado. First established in 1906 to protect over 4,800 Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites, the park's enabling legislation was amended several times to expand the boundaries and enhance the park's purpose to include the preservation of the forests, wildlife, and other natural features and values and to exclude incompatible uses.

Mesa Verde's significance and worldwide value was recognized by its selection as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1978.

Mesa Verde NP is located on a cuesta (a ridge formed by gently tilting sedimentary rock layers) incised by many deep, long canyons separating numerous narrow, parallel mesas in the transitional zone between the arid south and the temperate/alpine Rocky Mountains to the north.

Grazing has been excluded from the park for 60 years, and as a result, many plant and animal species that have disappeared or become very rare in the surrounding region still exist at Mesa Verde, including many species of rare and endemic plants. Five amphibian, 200 bird, 5 fish, 74 mammal, 16 reptile, and several hundred invertebrate species have been documented in the park.

Although the Mancos River is the only perennial stream, other water sources, such as seeps, springs, pot holes and historic wells, are relatively abundant. Under the Clean Air Act, Mesa Verde is designated as a Class I airshed. Because of its remote location and dry climate, the dark night skies make Mesa Verde a great location for viewing stars and planets.

Definitions

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

Abundance

Abundant:

Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.

Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.

Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.

Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.

Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.

Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Climate Summary Chart

Charts are an effective way to summarize and graphically represent climate variables. The following chart is based on the diagrams developed for vegetation studies by Walter and Lieth in 1967. Visit our climate page for more information.

Reports & Publications

Inventories are point-in-time surveys that help us learn about the resources in our parks. Information obtained through the Southern Colorado Plateau Network’s inventories of park resources helped to establish a base level of data, which has served as a starting point for our natural resource monitoring.

Protocols describe how we monitor. They include a descriptive narrative of what we monitor and why, our field methods, how we analyze and manage our data, and more. All of our protocols are peer reviewed.